some time ago, i wrote about my concerns regarding the take-over of the DVD-by-mail subscription service i was a member of offered by VHQ Online by its only real rival in Canada, Zip.ca.
well, the first few months of the changeover were relatively smooth. yeah, i didn’t like Zip’s queue system, but they do have a great feature called ZipRefill in which you log onto their website to tell them when you’ve mailed a DVD back to them and they forward you the next in your list right away.
they warned us VHQ members that, eventually, the 3-DVD plan we were subscribed to would be phased out. i didn’t change any of my preferences in the vain hope that they’d reconsider such a silly notion. well, i got an email this last week which has put the nail in the coffin of my relationship with Zip.
not only are they removing the 3-DVD plan (yet, you can subscribe to the 1-, 2-, 4-, 6- or 8-DVD plan. huh?), but they are also instituting a $2.49 per-DVD shipping & handling charge if you exceed X number of rentals per month.
for example, on the 2-DVD plan, you start paying S&H when they send you the sixth DVD that month (the 4-DVD plan starts charging on the twelfth). so, if you were like me last year, watching all three DVDs they sent me every week, i’d have had to pay shipping for at least three discs every month. that’s another $7.47 each month, effectively increasing the monthly fee to $27.42, not the advertised $19.95 (before taxes).
i’m really annoyed with this whole situation. true, i haven’t been watching nearly as many movies in the last six months as i was previously, so i probably wouldn’t be affected too severely by the excess S&H charges, and you can set up your account so they warn you before they ship the Xth disc that you’ll be billed so you can say no, but for me, a person who hates paying shipping for anything ever, this is a total slap in the face.
so, here ends my love affair with DVDs-by-mail. it’s been great while it lasted, but from here on out, i’m walking across the street to Blockbuster if i need to rent a movie.
Does Blockbuster not offer dvds-by-mail in Canada? (I’m guessing not…)
“Twelveth”, eh? ;)
you might have too much time on your hands, mel. ;)
try videomatica.ca
my brother swears by it and he’s a pretty smart guy!
…of course, there’s always the UseNet, too, y’know. ;-)
You don’t have to rent the Wallace and Gromit movie. :-)
yeah, i agree with christopher. the new wallace and gromit was a sad disappointment. i have discovered and now love the dvd distribution system we have here. it’s called the library. internet queues and everything. i haven’t paid a penny to watch a dvd in 6 months. what will these meddling out-spoken librarians think of next… i hope barnes and noble doesn’t find out about this.
i really should check out the library for dvds. i think about it, then promptly forget they’re an option. thank you for the reminder!
also, i believe christopher wasn’t commenting on the quality of wallace & gromit, but more on the fact he’s going to bring his copy over for us to watch.
oh…thankfully, my critical comments carry little weight. i’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Hey Heather! I am the Kristine you knew from Grade 6 class at Ridgeway. Any whoo I have a co-worker that is pretty fed up with Zip.ca too. (long story) She is also part of canflix.com and she swears by them! She is always getting movies from them on a weekly basis and they are very quick with getting new releases out to her. She is a 6 DVD at a time person, but I have heard nothing but good things about them so you might wan to check them out.
Be glad you weren’t using Netflixx…did you see this?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060210/ap_on_bi_ge/netflix_throttling